By NJ Ayuk
The Nigerian government needs to step up its game regarding approvals for indigenous companies acquiring in-country foreign energy assets.
The negative consequences of approval delays, ranging from many months to two-plus years, include forfeited revenue from lost royalties and taxes, production shortfalls, investor discouragement, and safety issues that arise while maintenance is put on hold.
The government approval process has stymied several of these potential deals over the past couple of years. These puzzling delays raise questions about why they are happening, as well as how serious officials are about increasing energy production to help Nigeria’s economy and its people.
There is a crying need for a new level of efficiency, timeliness, and openness in the approval process to give a fair shake to domestic energy players. Without it, the country’s economy and its citizens have the most to lose. The government can and must do better than this to keep its oil industry competitive, profitable, and safe.
Chappal Energies: Unlocking Latent Resources
In July 2024 TotalEnergies EP Nigeria sold to Chappal Energies its 10% interest in the SPDC JV licenses in Nigeria for 860 million USD. These assets produce a lot of beautiful low-carbon gas from OML 23, OML 28 and OML 77.
In late 2023, Norway’s state-owned Equinor agreed to sell its Nigerian business, Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), to Nigerian homegrown firm, Chappal Energies. The sale includes the unitized 20.21% interest Chevron operates in the country’s deepwater Agbami oil field, which has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil for Equinor since 1992.
Equinor has said it expects Chappal Energies will continue the development of its long-held assets in Nigeria, for the betterment of the country’s economy. Chappal is optimistic, too, with its managing director, Ufoma Immanuel, expecting positive effects on both the environment and the community.
Chappal has just the sort of attitude and drive Nigeria needs in its indigenous petroleum businesses, having stated that it is intent on “unlocking latent value in Nigeria’s and Africa’s oil and gas resources.”
The sale can only close after specified conditions and all regulatory and contractual approvals are finished. These are still pending.
Oando: Doubling its State Partnership Stake
In the early fall of 2023, in line with the Eni 2023-2026 Plan, Italian supermajor Eni agreed to sell Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd (NAOC) to Oando, a Nigerian stock exchange-listed provider of energy solutions.
Eni’s plan includes an effort to divest itself of resources that offer value and opportunity to other owners.
NAOC concentrates on producing onshore Nigerian oil and gas and on generating power. Its Nigerian holdings include interests in four onshore blocks, two power plants, and two onshore exploration leases. Besides these assets in the Niger River Delta, the deal includes an interest in the Brass River oil terminal.
Overall, the agreement means that Oando can double its interest in NAOC JV, the partnership it has with the state, to 40%, and increase its reserves to over 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Oando’s CEO, Wale Tinubu, sees the purchase as being “in alignment” with his company’s strategy of “acquiring, enhancing, appraising, and efficiently developing reserves.”
Closing the sale depends on the authorization of all the relevant local and regulatory authorities — a process that is still ongoing nearly a year after the agreement was reached. There has been some talk of approvals set to happen soon.
Renaissance: Making a Large Onshore Investment
In January 2024, Shell agreed to sell Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), its Nigerian onshore subsidiary, to Renaissance, an association made up of five Nigerian exploration and production companies (ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc, FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited, and The Waltersmith Group) plus an international energy group (Petrolin Limited). The firms agreed to a sales price of USD 1.3 billion.
All of SPDC’s operating capabilities and staff are to be maintained in the transaction, including technical expertise, management systems, and processes.
Describing Renaissance as “an experienced, ambitious Nigerian-led consortium,” Shell says the sale is part of its plan to concentrate its own Nigerian investment in deepwater and integrated gas.
With the bulk of Nigeria’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) feed gas coming from SPDC, it is important that Shell has agreed to play a supportive role after the sale so that all goes smoothly.
The sale cannot close until approvals from Nigeria’s federal government and other conditions are met.
Seplat: Securing a Long-Awaited Approval
There is, fortunately, one slow-moving approval story that has recently been resolved. On June 14, 2024, Arise News reported that NNPC has withdrawn its court case objecting to the ExxonMobil/Seplat deal, clearing a path for ExxonMobil to sell its entire interest in Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to Seplat Energy.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu had met with Liam Mallon, head of ExxonMobil, and members of the Ministers of Petroleum two months earlier, asking that officials remove barriers to approval.
The $1.28 billion deal was first greenlighted over two years ago by the parties, but politics and legalities hindered the sale from closing. The deal will turn over the U.S. company’s shallow-water OMLs 67, 68, 70, and 104 to Seplat and allow it to benefit from stakes in the Bonny River and Qua Iboe terminals and natural gas liquids recovery plants.
All of ExxonMobil’s offshore shallow-water operations are included in the agreement — the effect of which is to create a major independent Nigerian energy company. The upshot is that the sale is a very significant opportunity for the country to increase its daily crude production by 700,000 or more barrels.
The approvals process became gridlocked just months after the agreement was made when the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) cited an “overriding national interest,” and state-owned NNPC sued ExxonMobil.
Earlier this year, NUPRC tried to hasten regulatory approval for the sale, when NUPRC’s chief executive, Gbenga Komolafe, revisited a list of conditions that must be met for divestment.
Komolafe invited the parties involved to a May meeting and stated that, depending on the results of the meeting, approval might be given within two weeks.
A signed settlement agreement resulted, with Komolafe, emphasizing the issues of decommissioning, host community development, and environmental remediation.
The terms of the agreement include increasing NNPC’s interest in the four OMLs from 60% to 70%, and decreasing Seplat’s interest from 40% to 30%, while Seplat will gain a 10% interest in UTM Offshore’s floating LNG project.
Komalfe stated his unwillingness to Nigeria carries financial burdens resulting from divesting entities continuing to operate assets in the country.
Other issues that have been raised are:
While waiting on approvals, investors naturally don’t want to further invest further in these assets.
Production can decline while approvals are stalled.
Tinubu has asked ExxonMobil for suggestions on improving Nigeria’s oil and gas investment environment.
Step Up Approvals, for Nigeria’s Sake
President Tinubu’s efforts to bring together various parties around the ideas of stability, transparency, and an even playing field hold much promise for the role of Nigerian oil companies in increasing domestic production.
Delays in approvals for these companies’ acquisitions cripple the ability of these Nigerian companies to benefit their country. And that, after all, should be a goal that government regulators and homegrown petroleum firms share.
NJ Ayuk is the Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber